GRAPHIC DESIGNERS FROM OUR DESIGN COMMUNITY
Print Design Templates Take a look at these creative Graphic Design templates for brochures, flyers, newsletters, stationery, postcards, ads, menus and posters for a variety of businesses.
Invoicing 4 Freelancers A complete, secure, online billing application that maintains hourly service billing, flat fee billing and recurring charges. Integration with Authorize.Net and other leading payment gateways provides hands-free recurring billing with a sophisticated CRM system.
Free Design Magazines Browse through our extensive list of free Graphic Design, Web Design, Business, Computer, and Computer Graphics magazines, white papers, downloads and podcasts to find the titles that best match your skills and interests; topics include management, marketing, operations, sales, and technology. Simply complete the application form and submit it. All are absolutely free to freelance professionals who qualify.
Suggested Links Design Community
Photoshop Tutorials
Graphic Design Resources
Vandelay Design Blog
Design Reviver
Web Design & Graphic Design Blog
Logo Designer's Logos
Web Design Tools List
Layouts & Templates Directory
Graphic Designers
Creative Public
The Print Guide
Creative Track
Digital Dreamer
Logomarket
Desktop Publishing
Blue Sfear
Web Design Templates
Design Directory
Web Designers & Developers
Crafts for Kids
Webmaster Tutorials
Web Designers
Web Design Portfolios
All Work at Home Ideas
How to Draw
Work From Home Job Search
More Graphic Design Links
OTHER SITES WE OWN
AllFreelance
All Freelance Work & Portfolios
Graphic Design Community
Best of Graphic Design
Web Design Tools & Resources
 |
by: Richard Lowe
I
know you like to put graphics on your page. There is
little
better than a site which has been done by a professional
graphics designer. The perfect balance between graphics,
color,
fonts, photos and layout is rare and a wonder to behold.
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||
On
the other hand, a site with bad graphics or some obvious
blunders can be agonizing and even painful to look at.
Here are
some of the more common errors.
Large Graphics
Large
graphics have their place on the web. Some sites give
away
massive numbers of wallpaper images, which by definition
are
very large. In fact, I know of a site which offers over
a
thousand Tomb Raider wallpapers that is very good.
What
you want to avoid is using large graphics on your main
pages. Instead, you can use a technique such as showing
thumbnail images or links to the larger graphics. Thus,
those
people who want the large graphics can get them, while
those who
do not are not forced to wait for them to load. The
Tomb Raider
site solved this problem by including 100 very small
(32 x 32
pixel) thumbnails on a page. Clicking on an image displays
the
larger wall wallpaper.
Improperly Optimized Graphics
All
of the common graphics formats (GIF, PNG and JPG) allow
for
compression of various kinds. One common error is to
not take
advantage of this compression. For example, you can
cut down the
number of colors in a GIF image, which makes it smaller.
Or you
can increase the loss percentage in a JPG, substantially
reducing it's size.
Why
do you want to do this? Simply so that your visitors
do not
have to wait for a long time while your graphics load.
Animations
Check
the section called "Animation Mistakes" for
many common
errors with animated graphics. Suffice to say that less
is
generally better.
Graphics which Require Plug-Ins
There
are some graphics formats which require exotic and obscure
plug-ins in order to be seen. While there are advantages
to
using plug-ins (Adobe Acrobat comes to mind as an excellent
plug-in to use) they should be avoided when possible.
Most of
your visitors will not take the time to install a plug-in
just
to see your web site.
Garish backgrounds
Keep
your background graphics simple and neat. You want to
make
sure the graphics are subtle and contract greatly with
your
text. In other words do not use a light pink background
with
light red characters. Very hard to read. Also avoid
neon or
other bright backgrounds - these tend to so overpower
your web
site that people leave almost immediately.
About
the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet
Tips And Secrets.
This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve
your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site
Address:
http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter:
http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips:
mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com
RECENT ARTICLES from Graphic Design BloG
Graphic Design, Book Covers, and You - Part II
Reading a Book by Its Cover
The chance to produce art for a book cover is rare, bug the essential thought processes and creative steps are very similar, if not identical, in the inventive process. In this series we actually try to read a book by its cover--to see if the design concept is successful or [...]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Graphic Design, Book Covers, and You - Part I
Inspiration from the Covers of Books
In the next few posts, we'll look at some book covers and learn a few things about design. We'll find that design sometimes has to follow form. And in these examples, they follow the form of the content.
The creative processes used to design a book cover are relatively the same [...]
Freelancing 101: The Typical Life
Freelancing 101: The typical life.
Plus tips and advise from a professional.
By Elle Phillips
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about twenty-five percent of all Graphic Designers (or Graphic Artists) do freelance work, full-time or part-time. Many more have aspirations of doing freelance because of the money, creativity, and the appeal of working from home. [...]
When Design Becomes Literal
As a graphic artist, you face the challenge of creating designs that are unique, and interesting. Some designers, as you will see, have taken the idea of design to a very literal form.
The following examples are fun to look at and admire, but also serve as inspiration to think "inside the box" by approaching design [...]
Logos: What Makes a Good Design? - Part III
And Now the Good Stuff
In our last few articles about logo design we've seen some logos that didn't quite work because of design flaws, problems with concept or lack of visual appeal.
This time we'll look at some of the most famous logos in the world, and some that aren't so famous to see why they [...]
Logos: What Makes a Good Design? - Part II
The Logo Journey Continues
In our last article, we examined several logo designs that were, by most conventional standards, unsuccessful. Your art education is a continuing process and understanding the basics of graphic design can help you to be more effective in creativity and to avoid mistakes.
In Part 2 of this series, we'll take a look [...]
Logos: What Makes a Good Design? - Part I
Logo Design Isn't Always Easy
Designing a logo can sometimes be mystifying, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. At times a logo design just works, even though it may seem rather unremarkable. Other designs should work but they don't.
When Things Go Terribly Wrong
The examples in this article demonstrate what can happen when attention to [...]
All Graphic Design Resources is a Directory Full of Tools for Graphic Designers
All Graphic Design Portal is a Graphic Design education directory with resources & articles for Graphic Designers & Web Designers including a Design forum, blog, graphics software tips, graphic design jobs, advice for new designers about design schools and education as well as tips for freelance graphic design business owners, and much more.
Best of Brochure Design
HDR photography ( High Dynamic Range)
Illustrator/PDF printing nightmare!
